Donkey Kong Junior (Donkī Kongu Junia) is a 1982arcade game by Nintendo. Over the course of the 1980s, it was also released for various console systems, with the form of the title changed to Donkey Kong Jr. in most versions. Its eponymous star, Junior, is trying to rescue his father, who has been captured by Mario—Mario's only appearance as the villain in a video game. This game is the sequel to the popular Donkey Kong.

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Description

The player (Junior) attempts to rescue his father, Donkey Kong, after Mario (who is known as Jumpan in this game) finally catches him and throws him in a cage (beginning where the last game ended). The game can be classified as a platformer. Fruits hang in predictable locations, which can be knocked off to fall on enemies, killing them. The game has four levels; Vines, Springboard, Chains and Mario's Hideout (an electrified fortress featuring Sparks). Mario releases the enemies on each level to chase Junior away. After completing these four levels, the quest repeats with increased difficulty. Up to two players may play the game alternately.

The game's cabinet is a standard upright and its controls are simple; they consist of a joystick, two player select buttons, and a single jump button.

Legacy

Donkey Kong Junior is unique in that Mario is depicted as a villain to thwart in the game. This is the only Nintendo video game to feature Mario as an antagonist.

In the opening introduction, there appear to be two Mario(s) pulling up Donkey Kong's cage. One fan-developed theory is that the other "Mario" could simply be Luigi, who would later be formally introduced in Mario Bros.

The game later spawned a cereal which featured fruit-flavored cereal pieces shaped like bananas and cherries. Donkey Kong Jr. is shown on the box wearing a red shirt with a big yellow J printed on the front.

Cameos

Ports

Like most arcade games of this era, this game was ported to many home systems, such as the Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64, including the video game consoles NES and Famicom Disk System. A Game & Watch version of the game was also made. The NES version was one of the three launch titles for the system in Japan. The game was later the main game on the e-Reader and is now available on the Virtual Console for 500 Wii Points.

Club Nintendo

For a limited time only (until March 9th, 2014) Club Nintendo members can get the download code for just 150 Coins.